function serialize(mixed_value) {
  //  discuss at: http://phpjs.org/functions/serialize/
  // original by: Arpad Ray (mailto:arpad@php.net)
  // improved by: Dino
  // improved by: Le Torbi (http://www.letorbi.de/)
  // improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/)
  // bugfixed by: Andrej Pavlovic
  // bugfixed by: Garagoth
  // bugfixed by: Russell Walker (http://www.nbill.co.uk/)
  // bugfixed by: Jamie Beck (http://www.terabit.ca/)
  // bugfixed by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net/)
  // bugfixed by: Ben (http://benblume.co.uk/)
  //    input by: DtTvB (http://dt.in.th/2008-09-16.string-length-in-bytes.html)
  //    input by: Martin (http://www.erlenwiese.de/)
  //        note: We feel the main purpose of this function should be to ease the transport of data between php & js
  //        note: Aiming for PHP-compatibility, we have to translate objects to arrays
  //   example 1: serialize(['Kevin', 'van', 'Zonneveld']);
  //   returns 1: 'a:3:{i:0;s:5:"Kevin";i:1;s:3:"van";i:2;s:9:"Zonneveld";}'
  //   example 2: serialize({firstName: 'Kevin', midName: 'van', surName: 'Zonneveld'});
  //   returns 2: 'a:3:{s:9:"firstName";s:5:"Kevin";s:7:"midName";s:3:"van";s:7:"surName";s:9:"Zonneveld";}'

  var val, key, okey,
    ktype = '',
    vals = '',
    count = 0,
    _utf8Size = function (str) {
      var size = 0,
        i = 0,
        l = str.length,
        code = '';
      for (i = 0; i < l; i++) {
        code = str.charCodeAt(i);
        if (code < 0x0080) {
          size += 1;
        } else if (code < 0x0800) {
          size += 2;
        } else {
          size += 3;
        }
      }
      return size;
    },
  _getType = function (inp) {
    var match, key, cons, types, type = typeof inp;

    if (type === 'object' && !inp) {
      return 'null';
    }

    if (type === 'object') {
	 /*
      if (!inp.constructor) {
        return 'object';
      }
      cons = inp.constructor.toString();
      match = cons.match(/(\w+)\(/);
      if (match) {
        cons = match[1].toLowerCase();
      }
	 */
	  cons = Object.prototype.toString.call(inp);
	  match = cons.match(/\[object (\w+)\]/);
      if (match) {
        cons = match[1].toLowerCase();
      }
      types = ['boolean', 'number', 'string', 'array'];
      for (key in types) {
        if (cons == types[key]) {
          type = types[key];
          break;
        }
      }
    }
    return type;
  },
  type = _getType(mixed_value);

  switch (type) {
  case 'function':
    val = '';
    break;
  case 'boolean':
    val = 'b:' + (mixed_value ? '1' : '0');
    break;
  case 'number':
    val = (Math.round(mixed_value) == mixed_value ? 'i' : 'd') + ':' + mixed_value;
    break;
  case 'string':
    val = 's:' + _utf8Size(mixed_value) + ':"' + mixed_value + '"';
    break;
  case 'array':
  case 'object':
    val = 'a';
    /*
        if (type === 'object') {
          var objname = mixed_value.constructor.toString().match(/(\w+)\(\)/);
          if (objname == undefined) {
            return;
          }
          objname[1] = this.serialize(objname[1]);
          val = 'O' + objname[1].substring(1, objname[1].length - 1);
        }
        */

    for (key in mixed_value) {
      //if (mixed_value.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        ktype = _getType(mixed_value[key]);
        if (ktype === 'function') {
          continue;
        }

        okey = (key.match(/^[0-9]+$/) ? parseInt(key, 10) : key);
        vals += this.serialize(okey) + this.serialize(mixed_value[key]);
        count++;
      //}
    }

    val += ':' + count + ':{' + vals + '}';
    break;
  case 'undefined':
    // Fall-through
  default:
    // if the JS object has a property which contains a null value, the string cannot be unserialized by PHP
    val = 'N';
    break;
  }
  if (type !== 'object' && type !== 'array') {
    val += ';';
  }
  return val;
}

function unserialize(data) {
  //  discuss at: http://phpjs.org/functions/unserialize/
  // original by: Arpad Ray (mailto:arpad@php.net)
  // improved by: Pedro Tainha (http://www.pedrotainha.com)
  // improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
  // improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
  // improved by: Chris
  // improved by: James
  // improved by: Le Torbi
  // improved by: Eli Skeggs
  // bugfixed by: dptr1988
  // bugfixed by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
  // bugfixed by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
  //  revised by: d3x
  //    input by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
  //    input by: Martin (http://www.erlenwiese.de/)
  //    input by: kilops
  //    input by: Jaroslaw Czarniak
  //        note: We feel the main purpose of this function should be to ease the transport of data between php & js
  //        note: Aiming for PHP-compatibility, we have to translate objects to arrays
  //   example 1: unserialize('a:3:{i:0;s:5:"Kevin";i:1;s:3:"van";i:2;s:9:"Zonneveld";}');
  //   returns 1: ['Kevin', 'van', 'Zonneveld']
  //   example 2: unserialize('a:3:{s:9:"firstName";s:5:"Kevin";s:7:"midName";s:3:"van";s:7:"surName";s:9:"Zonneveld";}');
  //   returns 2: {firstName: 'Kevin', midName: 'van', surName: 'Zonneveld'}

  var that = this,
    utf8Overhead = function (chr) {
      // http://phpjs.org/functions/unserialize:571#comment_95906
      var code = chr.charCodeAt(0);
      if (code < 0x0080) {
        return 0;
      }
      if (code < 0x0800) {
        return 1;
      }
      return 2;
    };
  error = function (type, msg, filename, line) {
    throw new that.window[type](msg, filename, line);
  };
  read_until = function (data, offset, stopchr) {
    var i = 2,
      buf = [],
      chr = data.slice(offset, offset + 1);

    while (chr != stopchr) {
      if ((i + offset) > data.length) {
        error('Error', 'Invalid');
      }
      buf.push(chr);
      chr = data.slice(offset + (i - 1), offset + i);
      i += 1;
    }
    return [buf.length, buf.join('')];
  };
  read_chrs = function (data, offset, length) {
    var i, chr, buf;

    buf = [];
    for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      chr = data.slice(offset + (i - 1), offset + i);
      buf.push(chr);
      length -= utf8Overhead(chr);
    }
    return [buf.length, buf.join('')];
  };
  _unserialize = function (data, offset) {
    var dtype, dataoffset, keyandchrs, keys, contig,
      length, array, readdata, readData, ccount,
      stringlength, i, key, kprops, kchrs, vprops,
      vchrs, value, chrs = 0,
      typeconvert = function (x) {
        return x;
      };

    if (!offset) {
      offset = 0;
    }
    dtype = (data.slice(offset, offset + 1))
      .toLowerCase();

    dataoffset = offset + 2;

    switch (dtype) {
    case 'i':
      typeconvert = function (x) {
        return parseInt(x, 10);
      };
      readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
      chrs = readData[0];
      readdata = readData[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 1;
      break;
    case 'b':
      typeconvert = function (x) {
        return parseInt(x, 10) !== 0;
      };
      readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
      chrs = readData[0];
      readdata = readData[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 1;
      break;
    case 'd':
      typeconvert = function (x) {
        return parseFloat(x);
      };
      readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
      chrs = readData[0];
      readdata = readData[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 1;
      break;
    case 'n':
      readdata = null;
      break;
    case 's':
      ccount = read_until(data, dataoffset, ':');
      chrs = ccount[0];
      stringlength = ccount[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 2;

      readData = read_chrs(data, dataoffset + 1, parseInt(stringlength, 10));
      chrs = readData[0];
      readdata = readData[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 2;
      if (chrs != parseInt(stringlength, 10) && chrs != readdata.length) {
        error('SyntaxError', 'String length mismatch');
      }
      break;
    case 'a':
      readdata = {};

      keyandchrs = read_until(data, dataoffset, ':');
      chrs = keyandchrs[0];
      keys = keyandchrs[1];
      dataoffset += chrs + 2;

      length = parseInt(keys, 10);
      contig = true;

      for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
        kprops = _unserialize(data, dataoffset);
        kchrs = kprops[1];
        key = kprops[2];
        dataoffset += kchrs;

        vprops = _unserialize(data, dataoffset);
        vchrs = vprops[1];
        value = vprops[2];
        dataoffset += vchrs;

        if (key !== i)
          contig = false;

        readdata[key] = value;
      }

      if (contig) {
        array = new Array(length);
        for (i = 0; i < length; i++)
          array[i] = readdata[i];
        readdata = array;
      }

      dataoffset += 1;
      break;
    default:
      error('SyntaxError', 'Unknown / Unhandled data type(s): ' + dtype);
      break;
    }
    return [dtype, dataoffset - offset, typeconvert(readdata)];
  };

  return _unserialize((data + ''), 0)[2];
}